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Anna Karenina vocabulary
3 famous people mentioned
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Gaius Maecenas
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tags: [personage]
► definition
Definition:[68 - 8 BC]an ally, friend and political advisor to Octavian (who was to become the first Emperor of Rome as Caesar Augustus) as well as an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. During the reign of Augustus, Maecenas served as a quasi-culture minister to the Emperor but in spite of his wealth and power he chose not to enter the Senate, remaining of equestrian rank.His name has become a byword for a wealthy, generous and enlightened patron of the arts.[...]He enjoyed the credit of sharing largely in the establishment of the new order of things, of reconciling parties, and of carrying the new empire safely through many dangers. To his influence especially was attributed the more humane policy of Octavian after his first alliance with Antony and Lepidus. The best summary of his character as a man and a statesman, by Marcus Velleius Paterculus, describes him as "of sleepless vigilance in critical emergencies, far-seeing and knowing how to act, but in his relaxation from business more luxurious and effeminate than a woman."text from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike
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Uses:
"And is it true that this Mihailov is in such poverty?" asked Vronsky, thinking that, as a Russian Maecenas, it was his duty to assist the artist regardless of whether the picture were good or bad.
Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina (Translated by Constance Garnett)
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between ourselves, I believe he’s landed us with a lot of rubbish. What I can tell you is that the gentleman you mean has been a sort of Maecenas to M. Elstir, he started him and has often helped him out of tight places by ordering pictures from him.
Marcel Proust. In Search of Lost Time [volume 3]
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I bought a dozen volumes on banking and credit and investment securities, and they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew.
F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby (1925)
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